L.v. Woman Seeks Bill To Aid Hearing-impaired Fyi

May 27, 1988|The Morning Call

A Whitehall Township woman recently attended a Congressional lunch on Capitol Hill to stress to government officials the importance of early detection and research on deafness and the development of parent outreach efforts.

Christine Forsthoefel, of 1114 Tremont Circle, spoke to representatives about three pieces of legislation currently under consideration.

Senate Bill 1727 and its House companion bill, 3361, would authorize the National Institutes of Health to establish a separate institute to conduct research on deafness and communicative disorders. The House bill would require the installation of sprinkler systems in all public buildings and hotels.

Forsthoefel asked for an amendment to the latter bill that would require visual fire alarms for the deaf to be installed along with the sprinkler systems.

The amendment is crucial to the safety of a growing number of deaf and hearing-impaired citizens, according to the International Parents Organization of the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf, host of the lunch.

Forsthoefel's 15-year-old son, Stephen, has been deaf since birth. Heis enrolled in the regular eighth-grade classroom at St. Francis of Assisi School, Allentown.

Forsthoefel, a member of the IPO Executive Committee, is a parent counselor for families of hearing impaired children at the Helen Beebe Center in Easton and president of the Lehigh Valley Parents Group for Hard of Hearing Children. She has worked since 1977 to promote opportunities for deaf children to participate fully in a predominately normal-hearing world.